PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

The new Winter Cache is now dropping across the world! This arctic and frost-themed cache features a new Outfit, Pet, Mount, and a full set of Extraordinary Weapons! Winter Cache replaces Haunted Cache drops in the world. Haunted Cache, as with all previous caches, may still be traded and opened for their advertised contents.

Behold a winter wonderland starting December 12th through January 2nd! Defend the world from an icy invasion in groups and hourly public raids! Earn new daily login rewards, including a free pet–just for logging in! Exclusive seasonal achievements, legends, and cosmetics abound. Happy Holidays!

Ockham’s Razor (Barbershop) is now open for business, allowing players to make changes to their hair, makeup, and facial features!

Modern Prometheus (Plastic Surgeon) is now open for business, allowing players to make changes to their head, skin, and eyes!

Name changes are now available for purchase in the character selection screen!

GENERAL

Increased the amount of distillate XP gained when opening Purified Distillate Reward Bags gained from caches. The amount gained increases based on your highest achieved Item Power. The goal is to make the amount of distillate XP more relevant as the amount of XP required to level up items increases.

Added an animation that will play when the player unlocks a new title.

Added a new Interface Option to disable title unlock notifications.

Added an animation that will play when the player unlocks a new emote.

Added a new Interface Option to disable emote unlock notifications.

The reload UI command has been disabled while in character creation.

The Login Rewards window will now close itself when you switch to a character who has not unlocked it without closing the window.

Daily Event Login Rewards may now be obtained on each character on your account. Normal daily login rewards remain a once-per-account claim.

Added support for opening multiple lootboxes in succession.

Fixed a case where the lootbox interface could remain visible but not actually offer loot.

The Mission Items inventory bag will now default to the top left corner of the screen. This should make it more noticeable for players who have not customized its placement. Note: This change is not retroactive and will only affect characters created after this patch.

Added missing flavor text to the Jade Komainu.

Fixed a typo on the Repair Broken Data confirmation dialog.

Map waypoint for Seoul Fight Club is now properly labeled.

Barber Shop and Plastic Surgeon waypoints have been added to the London and New York maps, respectively.

GAMEPLAY

Museum items will now drop from killed monsters while in a raid group. This will make it easier to get museum items from some open-world bosses.

Fixed an issue during Killers on the Road where it was possible to complete certain objectives earlier than intended.

The Desecrated Relic in Sacred Protection can now be picked up if you have paused the mission.

The Syringe for Crying Wolf will no longer be deleted when pausing the mission.

Enraged Custurii fighting the Dark Woods Horror are now level 50.

Fixed an issue with the distribution of certain distillate types from Kaidan shipping container bosses which caused a certain value of distillate to have a significantly higher drop chance than others.

Filth-Encrusted Container Keys now have a chance to have become corrupted beyond use. Using one of these items no longer results in a guaranteed usable key. If you do not get a usable key you will instead gain Anima Shards.

Added a missing region value to the missions Inner Peace and Lights Out. These missions will now properly show in the Kaidan section of the completed mission log.

Added missing tracker FX to When the Hatchet Falls.

Fixed a bug during The Bank Heist where mission abilities would vanish while still wielding the Droid Arm.

To fix an issue during The Bank Heist where mission abilities would not be visible when returning to the mission area, the Droid Arm can no longer be equipped outside of the Faust Capital instance.

Seasonal emotes will now display their seasonal icon when the seasonal event is active, regardless of whether they are already owned or not.

COMBAT

Made it easier to target and attack larger destroyable objects such as Ak’ab Burrows, Statue of the Voice of Aten, and many others.

Fixed an issue where the bonus healing from Timeless Watch was being applied to the heal which triggered the bonus rather than the heal which came after the bonus effect was active.

Fixed an issue which caused the Spectre from Spectral Essence talismans to not work with the Revenant from the Shadow-Bound weapons.

Increased the base heat generated by Chain Lighting and Fire Bolt to 14.

Increased the base heat generated by Mjolnir and Inferno to 21.

Fixed an issue where the leech healing provided by Unveil Essence was bypassing the Blood Magic healing penalty from high Corruption or Martyrdom levels.

DUNGEONS AND RAIDS

Hell Raised

Fixed a bug that caused Triggerthings in the Recursia, Many-in-One encounter to not scale with difficulty. This change will reduce the difficulty of this encounter at all difficulties except 10.

Hell Eternal

Reduced the Prime Maker’s basic attack damage.

Reduced the damage scaling effect of Arcane Peak on the Prime Maker.

Manhattan Exclusion Zone

All Difficulties

Eldritch Guardians are now immune to crowd control.

Fixed the victory music sometimes looping.

Tweaked the way targeting works with The Unutterable Lurker. It is now easier to target adds that are close to the boss.

The Unutterable Lurker has slightly adjusted his Final Resort ability placement.

Elite 1+

Fixed a series of miscalculations that caused enemies to have too little defense rating. Hit rating appropriate for the difficulty is now needed to reliably hit these enemies.

Fixed a case where dying could trap the player in Story Mode’s Subway Station.

27th October is when Funcom’s The Park drops and the company are promoting a little pre-order offer that might interest. There’s a 23% discount plus for The Secret World players there’s some extra incentive:

By Purchasing the game you will receive exclusive items in The Secret World when The Park launches later in October this year:

You will get the Chipmunk Killer outfit, which was worn by Steve Gardener as Atlantic Island Park’s mascot in 1979. He was known as Chad the Chipmunk and his gruesome murders are still talked about on Solomon Island to this day.

You also get The Woodcutter’s Legendary Talismans. This necklace was a gift to Lorraine from her late husband. It is a QL 10.9 Talisman, which comes in three version – one for tanks, one for healers and one for damage dealers. Each version has a unique ability.

Aussie expat Joel Bylos is behind The Park and if it’s half as good as The Secret World we expect it’ll go down well with players.

Here at The Oceanic Gamer we’re unadulterated fans of The Secret World, and today’s announcement of the Season 1 Finale hasn’t given us any reason to change that view. Check the trailer out and then the press release of what you can expect in Reaping The Whirlwind, which is live now (assuming you’ve already got the issue #9 and #10 content updates):

Oslo, Norway – May 6th, 2015 – The Secret World® has just gotten a major content and story update with Issue #11: Reaping the Whirlwind. The game’s deep, dark and unique story has been told from launch and through eleven content updates, and now the first season finale is here!

The players fight their way through the Orochi tower, challenge eternal beings, grasp the ultimate power and will finally reap the consequences of their choices. Everything so far has been building up to this story climax, but it is of course not the end – it is merely the end of the beginning.

Issue #11: Reaping the Whirlwind offers hours of new content as the players can explore twenty-one unique levels of the Orochi tower in Tokyo, as they challenge the world’s largest corporation and its powerful CEO. The players will be rewarded with an Ultimate Ability based on their choices in the main story since launch. They also get a taste of what is to come, and learn that defying eternal beings comes at a heavy price.

Orochi Damage Inhibitor can no longer be deleted.
Orochi Damage Inhibitor is now character bound.
NPCs at Zeroes’ Wild and Susanoo’s Diner will no longer be total grumps and block access to the stairways.
Fixed an issue that could very rarely prevent the Hyper-Infected Citizen from properly spawning.
When using an AEGIS Transit Case or Biohazard Container, 1 Sequin of Sunrise will be given if you would otherwise have not received anything.

MISSIONS

Kaidan
Tower Defence – Reduced the amount of AEGIS research data given by the Transit Case rewards.

UPDATE 1.9 HOTFIX – JUNE 18TH

GENERAL

Fixed an issue with effects that should address at least some of the performance drops seen if you are logged in for a long time.

MISSIONS

Kaidan
The Pachinko Model – The last tier of the repeatable version of this mission now grants XP.
Tower Defence – Fixed an issue where headgear and hats were not properly removed during the cinematic.

UPDATE 1.9 HOTFIX – JUNE 12TH

GENERAL

Fixed an issue with AEGIS shields that could cause clients to crash.
AP Injectors will no longer be consumed if they would put the user over the AP cap.
Timed AP Boosts will no longer be consumed if there is already a Timed AP Boost buff running.
Removed invisible collision blocking the Agartha exit in Tokyo.

GUI

Fixed an issue where multiple copies of the AEGIS swapping UI would show when swapping to or from empty AEGIS slots.

COMBAT
Enemies will no longer attempt to cast Psychic Renewal while Obstructed.
Corrected an issue that prevented Full Momentum from granting 5 hammer resources.
Fixed an issue with some passive effects applying more often than they should.
Oni will no longer be broken by Strange Attractor.
Fixed an issue where some damage over time effects would not do the correct damage.

MISSIONS
New York
The Animate Clay – The exit grate from The Creature’s Abode will now work correctly again.
Kaidan
Right of Way – The repeatable version of this mission should now properly fail if players fail to enter the portal within the allotted time.
Hell of a Blow – Players should now keep the detonator until the mission has been completed.
Texts – This mission will now display in the proper mission journal category when completed.
Runaway Circus – In the event that a character somehow manages to lose the mission, it can now be re-obtained at the Subway Exit at the center of Kaidan City. Please note that this mission cannot be repeated.
Runaway Circus – Resolved an issue that prevented the player’s character from appearing during the first 2 shots of the cinematic played at the end of the mission.
Tower Defence – Fixed an issue where headgear and hats were not properly removed during the cinematic.
Tower Defence – Interacting with the generator when resuming the mission on Tier 4 will correctly give the generator and update the mission.
Tower Defence – Orochi defence tower manual is now a temporary mission item.
Tower Defence – Fixed an issue where players joining ‘Defend the breach’ while enemies are already fighting would not get a goal update after the assault ends.
The Pachinko Model – Sachiko is no longer the frail little ghost girl that she was.
Follow the White Rabbit – This mission can no longer be shared.
Hell’s Arsenal – Fixed a misleading waymarker.
Hell of a Blow – This mission will now display in the proper mission journal category when completed.
Spiral – The Home Alone achievement can now be completed after failing and re-entering the instance.
Right of Way – The Dignity Intact achievement can now be completed after failing and re-entering the instance.
The following missions will now award 3 Sequins of Sunrise (up from 2):
Venice Sinking (including repeatable version)Back to the Beginning (including repeatable version)
The Right of Way (including repeatable version)
Contract Killers (including repeatable version)
The Pachinko Model (including repeatable version)
Spiral (including repeatable version)
The following missions will now also award a Small Biohazard Container:
Venice Sinking (repeatable version only)
Back to the Beginning (repeatable version only)
The Right of Way (repeatable version only)
Contract Killers (repeatable version only)
The Pachinko Model (repeatable version only)
Spiral (repeatable version only)
The following missions now have an 18 hour cooldown (down from 68 hours):
Dear Diary
Filth Evolved
Noodles & Swords
Spy Games
Treachery in Purple
Masks in Exile
TextsHell’s Arsenal
Hell of a Blow
Feed the Tank
Chasing Bad Luck
Samurai Robots Can Happen to Anyone
The Ghost Lord
Pieces of Sarah
Population of Filth

UPDATE 1.9 HOTFIX – JUNE 6TH

GENERAL

The Wall – Lore 6 – is now accessible to players.
Fixed a client crash related to AEGIS controller switching.
Fixed a client crash related to the AEGIS system.

ITEMS

The Transdimensional Bank item has been restored.
Corrected Stimulant Brew Injector – Healing having a temporary name.
Changed the Stimulant Brew Injector – Healing functionality to allow it to be used on allies and on self.

COMBAT

Bosses in the story mission for Tokyo will no longer attempt to reapply their Psychic AEGIS.

MISSIONS

City of the Sun God
Black Sun, Red Sand – Fixed an issue that would not let players enter the Atenist temple.
Tokyo
The Pachinko Model – Placeholder text with unpowered computers replaced with correct text.
The Pachinko Model – Fixed an issue where the instance would appear differently for players in a group.
Tower Defence – Fixed an issue with players sometimes getting stuck on the goal “Defend the Breach”.
Right of Way – Ibaraki should now reset if he becomes unresponsive.

UPDATE 1.9 HOTFIX – JUNE 5TH

GENERAL

Fixed an issue in the new player cinematics where the wrong clothing was displayed on characters.

GUI

The Eternal Echoes tab will no longer show any Eternal Echoes that you have only partially completed and that currently cannot be completed.

COMBAT

The Psychic Renewal ability cast by some NPCs now has a 15 second cooldown.
AEGIS controllers can no longer be swapped during the global recharge timer.

MISSIONS

Tokyo
Back to the Beginning – Resolved an issue that caused Sarah to occasionally become unresponsive near the start of this mission.

UPDATE 1.9 – JUNE 4TH

NEW!!

New missions! Travel to Tokyo to take on a brand new chapter in The Secret World’s main story!
Use the all new AEGIS System to overcome new challenges and customize your character more than ever before!
Explore an all new adventure playfield full of hours of entertainment with new characters, missions, monsters, lore, and achievements!

GENERAL

Sprint is now reapplied after going through Agartha fast travel portals.
Fixed an issue that could cause characters to play the wrong movement animation after a change in speed.
Fixed a case where sound effects for completing mission tiers and missions were not playing.
Leaving a playfield with active need/greed windows open will now pass on those rolls.
When a character who won an item roll can no longer receive the item it will instead be given to the top roller who can receive it.
The Buzz achievement no longer requires players to obtain The Abandoned lore entries.
The Abandoned lore entries have been moved to a new Sidestories category in the Lore window.
Crafting a stack of something will now put it all in your bag if you have space, and not sometimes leave some in your crafting result slot.
Reduced the amount of rare gadget toolkits that drop in the world.
Changed logging level of Scaleform log messages to reduce spam in the client logs.
Players should no longer be able to take missions from mission givers while they are threatened, regardless of whether they are actually in combat or not.
The Obsidian Pharaoh Hound now lists the correct month in which it was awarded.
Updated the descriptions for pets that require an achievement to specify which achievements are required.
Format of text in the options screen has been made more consistent.
Added a missing tooltip to the Show Tutorial Popups interface option.
Fixed the description of the Free for All loot option.
Updated the text for “Filth Exterminator” and “The Bane of Dis” in the achievement window to indicate that they are titles.
Updated several abilities to use the official spelling of metre.
Increased the amount of screenshots the client can save.

GUI

Added four new AEGIS weapon controller equipment slots to the character sheet. The AEGIS controller in the large central box will be the active one. Pressing the AEGIS swap keys (9 and 0 default) will switch your active AEGIS controller.
Added a display above the ability bar to show which AEGIS controllers are currently active. Clicking this display will switch your active aegis.
A new minimap and map has been added to Agartha.
Added a Character Select button to the main menu which will return you to the character selection screen.
Added an icon to the nametags of players who are currently watching a cinematic.
Fixed a case where you would sometimes not see the stats of other characters correctly. Typically this could manifest itself as seeing other players not at full health even though they were, especially when many players converge in a small area.
Fixed an issue where tooltips for buffs in the Team UI and Defensive Target UI would not appear.
Fixed an issue where tooltips for buffs in the Team UI and Defensive Target UI would not go away.
Fixed an issue that was causing XP values above 2,147,483,647 to display incorrectly. (The correction will happen after the next XP award).
Fixed a case where the Exit Game button in the main menu didn’t work on the login or character selection screens.
Clicking and dragging the Team UI will now allow you to move it to anywhere on your screen.
Clicking and dragging the Defensive Target UI will now allow you to move it to anywhere on your screen.
Clicking the menu button on the Team UI will now open a dropdown that will allow you to hide the Team UI, lock the position of the Team UI, or lock the position of the Defensive Target UI.
Added a menu button to the Defensive Target UI when the Team UI is not active that allows players to lock the Defensive Target UI in place.
Fixed several cases where the Team UI would not maintain its minimized state.
Team UI will now resize properly when new buffs are added to a team member.
Buffs displayed on the Team UI will now show counters and timers.
Fixed a case where there was extra space before a team member’s name after changing team leadership.
Made several changes to the way that buffs are displayed:
If a player has stacks of a buff running on a target, that player will be shown their own stacks and timers.
If a player does not have stacks of a buff running on a target, that player will be shown whichever copy of the buff has the most stacks.
Fixed a case where dragged item icons would be offset from the cursor while dragging.
The search functions on the Market have been expanded to help further filter search results.
Swapped the ring and wrist talisman slots in the gear manager.
Added a sound effect when switching equipment pages in the character sheet.
Fixed a case where the compass and share buttons in the Mission UI could not be clicked.
Added a new tab to the Achievement UI for Eternal Echoes. Eternal Echoes are achievements that are not permanently available.
The Eternal Echoes tab will show all Eternal Echoes that you have at least partially completed, as well as any that are currently available for completion.
The Eternal Echoes tab will not show any Echoes that you have not at least partially completed and that currently cannot be completed.
The Achievements/Lore UI should now reopen to the Achievement/Lore that it was last closed on.
Opening the Achievement/Lore UI by clicking the new Achievement or new Lore notification will open the UI to that achievement or lore entry.
New lore notification now vanishes when the achievement/lore UI is opened.
Newly acquired lore entries should now have a notification next to them in the lore GUI.
Fixed a case where the frame around newly unlocked achievements would be the wrong size.
Fixed a case where notifications on new achievements would not be cleared after viewing the new achievement.
The “Online” column in the cabal members list has been renamed “Activity”.
The “Activity” column in the cabal members list will now display the last date an offline cabal member was online.
The Friends list will now display the last online date for offline cabal members.
Added CharacterBase.IsThreatened() function to the UI. This function will return true if the character is hated by any enemy. Previously, CharacterBase.IsInCombat() was used, but only returns true if the player is actively in combat with the enemy.

CLOTHING

Fixed an issue that caused Work shirts to clip with Pinstripe suit jackets.
Fixed a graphical issue with the 50s styled female hair option.
Fixed a clipping issue with the female version of Black Metal – Brutal pants, black.
Fixed an issue with the size of the female version of Carapace of the Immaculate Machine – Boots.

ITEMS

We have changed the way vendors give you items to function in the same way as items that are given from loot, crafting, or quest rewards. This affects whether items are considered the same for inventory stacking purposes and will make some previously purchased items (like potions) unable to stack with newly purchased items of the same type. It will however also make newly purchased items able to stack with the same type of item acquired elsewhere.
Updated the prices for most consumables in all faction HQs. QL 8 prices stayed the same, while QL 10 prices have gone up. QL 2, 4, and 6 prices have gone down considerably.
Auxiliary weapon tooltips will no longer display as Bind on Equip.
Grim Glamour: Mummy, Grim Glamour: Vampire, and Grim Glamour: Zombie are now properly labeled as Bind on Pickup.
Corrected a typo with the Pure Anima – Attack Rating tooltip in the German client.
Corrected a typo on the Event Horizon Cannon tooltip.
Fixed a typo in the Artisan’s Tool Augmenter that should make it easier to search on the Market.
Sack of Penny Dreadfuls will now properly appear on the Market.
Left sock and Right sock will now properly appear on the Market.
Spoils of Niflheim will now properly appear on the Market.
Enruned Quetzal Bird will now properly appear on the Market.
Signet reward bags will now have their rarity represented in text as with other items.
Added a small cooldown to the AP Injectors to prevent more than one from being consumed at a time.
Renamed the various healing potions that are purchased from PvP vendors to differentiate them from the crafted versions.
Updated to the tooltips of all Trinkets on linked cooldowns to indicate which Trinkets affect each other’s cooldowns.
Fixed a display issue with the Burst of Energy advanced tooltip in the French client.
Red sargassum barrel can now be deleted.
Sufferer’s raiment can now be deleted.
Radar trackers will no longer play during cinematics.

COMBAT

General
Evades are now shown in the combat log.
Fixed an issue that could cause players to become permanently impaired.
All of the stacking rating effects in the game (Block Rating, Penetration Rating, Evade Rating, Hit Rating, Critical Rating, Critical Power Rating, Defense Rating, and Protection Rating) now provide 35 per stack instead of 30.
Attacks against enemies of a higher rank than your weapon skill will no longer have an increased chance to glance.
Any target affected by multiple successive taunts will now only be affected by the most recently applied taunt.
Abilities that act on hit should last only as long and affect the number of targets as intended.
Passives that are supposed to trigger from Hindering will now work more reliably.
Passives which trigger off impair will no longer trigger if the target is immune to impair effects.
Added new text to all abilities that are not affected by and that do not trigger the global recharge timer.
Updated the wording in all “Defence” gadgets to state that they are procced by glances.
Updated all percentage damage increasing effects to use the same method of damage increase. This change should make damage increases easier to understand and behave more consistently.
Updated all effects which heal for a flat amount, such as Karma Curio and Turn the Tables, to take into account negative healing modifiers from effects such as Corrupted.
Fixed an issue that caused percent max health based heals to not be modified by the Corrupted debuff or other heal reducing effects.
Fixed an issue where some stacking dots would not work correctly if more than one character was applying them.
Fixed an issue which caused passive proc effects to not always trigger in specific cases where multiple players attempted to trigger the same effect on the same target at the same time.
Damage over time effects, proc effects, and persistent ground damaging areas applied by players are now able to critically hit and penetrate. Likewise, they are now also able to glance and be blocked. These effects will still not trigger other effects, ie: a damage over time crit will not trigger One in the Chamber, they will just have their damage modified by these hit event types.
Updated heal procs and heal over time effects to now be able to critically hit, similar to how damage over time and damage proc effects are able.
Updated the tooltip of the Occluding Lens effect.
Reworked the way Gaian Exposure adds healing power. It will now increase the character’s overall healing power (instead of just the weapon’s) by 1% per stack. This allows Gaian Exposure to affect passives, Miscellaneous abilities, and any other item abilities that are calculated with the “Healing Power” stat.
Updated the tooltip of the Gaian Exposure buff.
The healing proc on Blood of the Old Ones will no longer affect NPCs.
Reduced the duration of the Entanglement effect on some Nightmare enemies.
Fixed several issues with dungeon Head Talisman items not providing their buff effects.
Fixed several issues with the Ma’at’s Judgement item.
Fixed various issues with the dungeon talisman Pride.
Removed the short silence effect from the Deathless form ability Blood Burst to prevent constant self-silencing.

Chaos
Intensity should now correctly increase hate generated by Escalation.
Updated the tooltip of Strange Attractor to denote that it Impairs affected targets.
Increased the cooldown of Strange Attractor to 45s (was 30s).
Prisoner of Fate will now go on cooldown immediately after use.
The evade effect from Illusion is now able to be purged in all cases.
Fixed an issue where Backlash would not always gain counters when evading.
Fixed an issue where the tooltip for Cry Havoc displayed more damage than it should (Note that the damage from Cry Havoc has not changed and this was only a display fix.).
Reduced the cooldown of Immutable to 80 seconds (from 100).

Elementalism
Updated the description of Short Fuse to indicate that it will multiply damage output.
Fixed an issue which caused Elemental Force to gain stacks when queuing a non-stack building ability after a damaging ability with a cast time.
Abilities such as turrets and manifestations which do not advance the Elemental Force counter are no longer able to take advantage of the bonus effect this passive generates.
Abilities which do not benefit from Elemental Force should no longer advance the counter and consume the effect.
Abilities which benefit from Elemental Force should now always advance the counter and consume the effect.
Fixed an issue where Magnetic Wipe would purge a target even if the ability did not successfully hit.
Criticality will now only cause damage to a single target once per second. For example, if you critically hit 5 targets in an AoE, there will no longer be 5 Criticality chains generated.
Fixed an issue where Criticality would not proc on separate targets if they were damaged by an earlier proc of Criticality.
Removed the cooldown from Thor’s Hammer.
Increased the damage dealt by Big Bang.
Removed the 5 second cooldown on Inferno.

Blood Magic
Clarified the description of Gross Anatomy to specify that it triggers when an affliction effect is renewed.
Splatter should now properly affect Conditional Force.
Increased the damage dealt by Arterial Pulse.
Arterial Pulse will now only cause damage to a single target once per second. For example, if you penetrate 5 targets in an AoE, there will no longer be 5 additional hits of Arterial Pulse generated.
Updated the tooltip for Thicker Than Water to reflect the fact that it will affect healing Blood Magic abilities.
Improved Angelic Aegis, Ruby Curtain, The Scarlet Arts, Exquisite Corpse, and Linked Veins to benefit from abilities that increase the healing power of Blood Magic abilities.
Removed the cooldown from There Will Be Blood.
Fixed an issue that caused Bloodsport and Corrupted Blood to not trigger Gross Anatomy when refreshed.
Blood Bank counters should now last 10 seconds as the tooltip states.
Reduced the max stack size on Blood Bank to 5.
Increased the damage bonus on Affliction effects on Blood Bank to 3% per stack.
Increased the next barrier granted by Infusion to 35% (from 30%).
Reduced the cooldown of Transfuse and Abuse to 25 seconds (from 45).
Contaminate can now be silenced, now counts as Blood Magic, and is now classified as a magical ability.

Blades
The extra hit performed by Steel Echo should now gain modifications from buff effects.
Fixed an issue with Chop Shop which made its radius smaller than it should be.
Fixed the simple tooltip of Chop Shop to more accurately reflect what the ability does.
Fixed an issue which caused Fatal Flourish to gain stacks when queuing a non-stack building ability after a damaging ability with a cast time.
Abilities such as turrets and manifestations which do not advance the Fatal Flourish counter are no longer able to take advantage of the bonus effect this passive generates.
Significantly increased the damage dealt by the Fortunate Strike passive ability.
Fixed an issue which caused Blade Torrent to generate more hate than it should.
Increased the base damage dealt by Grass Cutter while decreasing the bonus damage from hitting afflicted targets.
Increased the charge distance of Saving Grace to 20 (from 15).
Silver Streak now cleanses hinders.
Updated the description of Regeneration to state that it lasts 10 seconds.

Fists
Fixed an issue where Go for the Throat displayed lower damage in the tooltip than it should.
Predator passive now states that it improves healing as well as damage.
Increased the damage bonus value of Animal Instinct to 100%.
Animal Instinct will now also apply an affliction effect for 8 seconds to all targets hit by Savage Sweep.
Improved Cauterise, Vigour, Shelter, Inner Spark, and Fired Up to benefit from abilities that increase the healing power of Fist abilities.
Increased the bonus damage of Bear Knuckle when hitting impaired targets.
Creature Comfort is now considered both a direct heal and heal over time effect and can benefit from both categories of enhancements.
Increased the range of Blast of Light to 10 metres.

Hammers
Fixed an issue where the Hammer weapon skill Momentum was not granting the full damage bonus that it should.
Full Momentum now creates 5 instant resources.
Updated the description of Knuckle Down to state that it affects direct heals in addition to damage.
Updated several builders to ensure they are fully affected by Knuckle Down.
No Mercy will now properly gain its buff effect after killing an enemy even after changing areas.
Updated the tooltip of No Mercy to more accurately reflect its behavior.
The No Mercy marker debuff will now be visible and work properly when multiple players apply it at the same time to the same target.
Increased the damage bonus value of You’re Next to 6%.
Clarified the tooltip description for Raging Volcano.
Fixed an issue where Forged in Fire could trigger twice in one cooldown period.

Assault Rifles
Reduced the movement speed penalty when activating an Assault Rifle ability to 40%.
Leeching Frenzy is now affected by Experience and Signet of Hunger.
No Contest will now also increase damage dealt by 8% in addition to making the hit unavoidable.
Short Controlled Bursts will now increase Hit Rating by 200, and Penetration Chance and Critical Chance by 2.5% for Burst abilities.
Changed Accuracy to always provide a 5% damage bonus. It will also now add 50 Hit Rating.
Updated the tooltip description for the Accuracy passive to be more clear.
Reduced the damage dealt by Shoot ‘Em Up.
Reduced the damage dealt by Anticoagulant.
Reduced cast time of Incendiary Grenade to 0.5 seconds.
Fire in the Hole now has two damage components, one delayed and one upon activation. The delayed damage from this ability is now treated as a proc effect and cannot trigger or benefit from Elemental Force or other passive effects.
Suppressing Fire will now deal the majority of its damage on the first hit of the attack. This damage will be able to trigger procs and passives. The subsequent 3 hits will no longer be able to trigger procs and passives.
Tactical Retreat’s delayed damage will no longer benefit from Elemental Force.
Increased the damage dealt by Extra Bullet.
Increased the damage dealt by the primary hit of Trigger Happy.
Increased the back dash from Razor Wire to 10 metres (from 5).
Sharp Shooter now causes an additional hit at ranges greater than 12 metres instead of affecting Hit Rating.

Pistols
Updated the tooltip on Closer to indicate that it can also affect healing abilities.
Contortionist should now properly increase the barrier value on Expulsion.
Born Leader’s heal effect is now able to critically heal.
Increased the healing and damage of Born Leader.
Born Leader now follows the player as a PBAoE instead of remaining in place when cast.
Utilitarianism will now also cause allies affected by Greater Good to receive healing for the duration of the effect.
Reduced the cast time of Greater Good to instant.
Greater Good will no longer trigger or be affected by the global recharge timer.
Removed the cooldown from Collaboration.
Slightly reduced the damage dealt by Collaboration.
Collaboration will now provide a guaranteed cleanse with a 5 second internal recharge time.
Increased the damage dealt by Marked.
Increased the damage dealt by Above the Law.
Reduced the cooldown of Pistol Love to 25 seconds (from 30).
Increased the resistance duration of Pistol Love to 10 seconds (from 5).
Fixed an issue with Pistol Love that would cause friendly NPCs to hate players.
Bullet Ballet now adds a stack (up to 5) of bonus Critical Rating for each hit.
Updated the tooltip of Cleansing Drone to include the radius and to reflect that this ability lasts for 3 seconds.
Reduced the cooldown of Cleansing Drone to 6 seconds.
Increased the damage dealt by Cleansing Drone.
Increased the number of targets affected by Area Drone to 5 (from 3).
Fixed a typo in Area Drone’s description.
Area Drone will now correctly benefit from effects which increase resource consumer damage and effects which improve Pistol damage.
Reduced the cooldown of Health Drone to 4 seconds (from 20).
Health Drone now hits up to 5 targets (up from 3).
Drone support now heals all group members whenever Cleansing Drone attempts to cleanse.
Removed the 1 second cast time from Gun-Fu.
Gun-Fu will now reduce the cooldown on all Pistol consumers by 4 seconds.
Increased the damage of Bond, Strong Bond.
Increased the dash on Shake and Bake to 10 metres.
Rapid Getaway will now provide the Minor Critical Chance effect when activating any resource consumer. This is in addition to the increased movement speed.
Running Circles now hits the targeted enemy for a small amount of damage when you are moving.
Updated the tooltip of Shot in the Arm to reflect that this ability procs on attempts to cleanse (actually cleansing is not necessary).
Seal the Deal will now increase the damage and healing of all resource consumers rather than every other consumer. This will allow it to affect abilities such as Manifestations, Drones, and Turrets more reliably.
Seal the Deal’s damage bonus has been reduced to 15%.
Seal the Deal will now also increase critical chance for resource consuming abilities by 5%.

Shotguns
Fixed an issue that could cause the Shotgun Wedding damage increase effect to persist permanently.
Removed an extra period from Breach Party’s description.
Updated the word Weakened in Single Barrel’s description to have the correct link.
Stopping Power should now properly advance and consume Elemental Force.
Reduced the cooldown of Smart Bomb to 45 seconds (from 60).
Reduced the cooldown of Bomb Squad to 45 seconds (from 60).

Rocket Launcher
The Clusterstruck animation will now complete even if another action is performed immediately after its use.

Misc
Reduced the cooldown of Sleight of Hand to 30s (was 40s).
Fixed an issue where you would sometimes not be able to use Sleight of Hand while knocked down.
Reduced the cooldown of Last Resort to 60 seconds (from 80).
Added a damage mitigation effect to Last Resort that occurs after the invulnerability effect ends.
Last Resort will no longer trigger or be affected by the global recharge timer.
Speed Freak will now grant immunity to hinder effects for its duration, and remove hinder effects upon activation.

Signets
Signet of Valour will no longer erroneously affect your defensive target.
Signet of Reinforcement should now trigger more reliably when evading attacks.
Signet of Order and Signet of Salvation should now trigger more reliably against a variety of attacks.
Fixed an issue where in certain cases multiple copies of the Thirst effect from Signet of Thirst could work at the same time.
Fixed an issue where in certain cases multiple copies of the Equilibrium effect from Signet of Equilibrium could work at the same time.
Fixed several typos in Signet of Equilibrium.
Updated the trigger method for Signet of Aggression and Signet of Abuse to be more reliable.
All Signet effects which apply a beneficial effect or detrimental effect are now able to be purged or cleansed.

Augments
Updated the tooltip of Vivifying Augment to note that it only affects direct heals.
Significantly reduced the hate generated by the healing component of the Salubrious, Invulnerable, Quickening, and Curing Augment effects.
Mercurial and Accelerating Augments will now also reduce the remaining time on the Depleted, Shorted Out, and Uncalibrated debuffs applied by Breaching Shot, Short Fuse, and Deadly Aim.

MISSIONS

Story and Faction
London Underground – The Dragon version of this mission should now always update when a player approaches the Crocea Mors, as long as the timer has not yet expired.
Mortal Sins – The Silver Egg is now automatically removed when you complete the mission.
Mortal Sins – Body parts will no longer linger in player inventories after completing the associated zone.

The Savage Coast
Weapons of Minor Destruction – The Pitcher’s mound should no longer get stuck in a non-interactive state.
Jack’s Back – The Ghostlight field in Tier 4 should now properly reset.
Another Bug Hunt – This mission now works in a group. Additionally, two more poor souls have been claimed by the Ak’ab. The mission still only requires locating four.

The Blue Mountain
Dawning of an Endless Night – Fixed an issue causing the cinematic with Ami and Kyra to not play immediately after the first encounter with Beaumont in the Blue Ridge Mine.
The Research of Tyler Freeborn – The Guardian on Tier 1 should now always depart when it is time to go.

The Scorched Desert
The Big Terrible Picture – Players will no longer be killed by hostile wildlife while watching the cinematic in Tier 6 when returning to Montgomery.
From Oxford, With Love – Players will no longer be killed by hostile wildlife while watching the cinematic in Tier 1 when investigating the camp.
A Time to Every Purpose – The Scion of Pompilius will now return to the courtyard if scared off.
O Tempora! O Mores! – The Roman weapons and supplies no longer incorrectly update goal progress extra times.

City of the Sun God
The Binding – It should no longer be possible for aggressive wildlife to kill you while watching the cinematic during Tier 4.

The Shadowy Forest
Wild Hunt – Fixed a sync issue with the audio in the opening cinematic.
The Drăculeşti – The Explosives Detonator and Solomonar Cube are now cleaned up properly when finishing this mission.

DUNGEONS AND RAIDS

Hell Raised
Persistent area effects or meteor showers should no longer damage/kill players while watching the cinematic after Machine Tyrant is killed.
Manhattan Exclusion Zone
Fixed an issue that could cause The Unutterable Lurker to become unresponsive.

PVP

General
Engineer vendors in all faction Headquarters now sell a new set of gadgets. All of these gadgets except for the Restoration Contrivances are only usable in PvP areas, and all of them can be purchased for Black Marks.
Equal Footing will now be applied to all players in PvP areas. It will attempt to provide a statistical increase in power to players below a certain threshold. The priority in stats increased is based on the player’s chosen uniform.
The Equal Footing effect will be removed when updating gear, and will reapply shortly afterward.
The Equal Footing reapplication delay after changing gear will refresh in duration if you change gear while the delay is active.
Increased the bonus health granted by the High Powered Weaponry uniform to 10%.
Increased the bonus health granted by the Reinforced Armour uniform to 25%.
Increased the bonus health granted by the Integrated Anima Conduits uniform to 15%.
Fixed a case where the resurrection UI would show when the player was alive after exiting a PvP match while dead.
Fixed a case where the PvP GUI would break when joining a PvP match from within a different PvP match.
Players will now be removed from all other PvP queues when joining a PvP match.
El Dorado
Carrying a relic will now slow movement speed by 20% and reduce the power of incoming heals, barriers, and leech effects by 25%.
Movement abilities are now locked when carrying a relic.
It is no longer possible to sprint while holding a relic.
Fixed an issue where the Relic of the East and West messages were swapped.
The East Relic should now properly display which faction controls it.
Fixed an issue where the Plant Relic button would not appear on the scoreboard.
Fusang
Fusang mission rewards should now display the proper icon.
The rewards and cooldowns for the following missions have changed:
Capture Anima Well: Reward – 5 Black Marks // Cooldown – 18 Hours
The Underdogs: Reward – 5 Black Marks // Cooldown – 1 minute
Eliminate 10 Enemies: Reward – 10 Black Marks // Cooldown – 18 Hours
Capture a Facility: Reward – 50 Black Marks // Cooldown – 30 Hours

SCENARIOS

General
The announcers in Venice have been asked to stop lying to test participants about certain events as they occur during examinations. They thought it was funny. We, however, do not have a sense of humour.
The Hotel
The Jinn boss should no longer randomly target survivors with Unstable Eruption.

WORLD DESIGN

Fixed an issue with a wall in London that could allow players to fall underneath the playfield.
Fixed a location where players could get stuck near the Withered Spring in City of the Sun God.
Fixed a billboard in Kingsmouth Airport that was floating slightly off the ground.

Funcom have announced a new pack of investigation missions for The Secret World. The nitty gritties from Funcom on what the missions involve:

We are introducing a new type of downloadable content pack for The Secret World called Sidestories. These packs offer new content outside of our regular Issue structure, and is available for everyone in the in-game Item Shop.

Sidestories: Further Analysis gives you the chance to delve into four brand new Investigation Missions! Hone your puzzle solving skills and play through four fresh stories spread throughout the game world.

An epic reward, The Inspector’s Gadget and a Deep Mystery Box, awaits those who complete all four missions! You get the Investigation Mission calledImmersion from Lisa Hui in the Scorched Desert, where you investigate Orochi comms equipment in Egypt to try and get a signal from Tokyo HQ.

In The Animate Clay you return to Dr Anton Aldini in New York and follow the trail of one of his lost creations as it struggles to find its purpose.

Trials of the Dragon starts you off in the Shadowy Forest and lets you explore the monster hunting prowess of your old friends, Tibor and Luminita. Here you get the opportunity to undergo the Draculesti trials to become a true monster hunter.

The fourth Investigation Mission, The Abandoned, marks a return to the mysterious Mosul and sweeps you into the back stories of the fairytale creatures of the Shadowy Forest.

The latest content update for The Secret World, Issue #8 – The Venetian Agenda – is now live.

Here’s the full patch / update notes for your digestion if you can’t jump into the update itself right now:

UPDATE 1.8 CONTENT RELEASE – NOVEMBER 7TH

NEW!

Scenarios are now available! Secret Worlders can hone themselves in simulated training environments. Players can select a destination, group size, and difficulty. Protect NPCs from hordes of ravening enemies and receive certification from the Council of Venice!

The Augment system can now be unlocked! Tune your abilities to suit your playstyle’s needs!

A new story mission is available! The main storyline continues, ramping up to the next pivotal chapter in Tokyo.

COMBAT

Fixed an issue where Suppressing Fire would sometimes not build resources when multiple players attacked the same target. Note that this now causes the ability to build resources at the end of the cast similar to Bloodline.

Increased the duration of Advantage Me to be 5 seconds.

Increased the jump distance of the chain spells Wanted, Electrical Storm, and Infection to 5 meters.

GUI

Fixed item shortcut window being cleared when loading a build in the gear manager.

Fixed an issue that caused minor talismans to be removed from saved builds when launching the client.

Fixed an issue where the Gear Manager would not equip certain items.

Fixed an issue that could prevent the Gear Manager from equipping an Elite Passive ability.

Fixed an issue that could prevent the Gear Manager from equipping an Elite Active ability.

Fixed an issue where the Gear Manager would preview the wrong set when more than 8 sets were saved.

CLOTHING

Fixed an issue where some gloves would get cut off when wearing a Strapless blouse and corset

MISSIONS

Kingsmouth Town

The Gypsy’s Diary – Fixed a typo in the mission description text

Savage Coast

The Rogue Groundskeeper – Fixed a typo in the Dragon faction report

UPDATE 1.8 HOTFIX – OCTOBER 31ST

GENERAL

Increased the duration of the snare effect applied by Razor Wire.

Fixed an issue that caused a visible seam to appear on character arms when wearing the Plague Doctor gloves with a long sleeved shirt.

Fixed an issue that caused visible seams to appear on character legs when wearing the Plague Doctor leggings with certain boots.

Fixed an issue that caused an errant texture to appear in front of a character’s abdomen while wearing the Creepy Equine Mask and being in combat stance with fist weapons.

MISSIONS

Kingsmouth Town

The Confession of Ellis Hill: Fixed a typo in the mission text.

The Ghost of Jack-o-Lantern: All pumpkins are despawned when Jack dies.

The Ghost of Jack-o-Lantern: Players can buy and carve new Jack-o-lanterns as often as they want while on the mission.

Savage Coast

Spooky Stories of Solomon Island: Removed the cooldown from this mission.

Blue Mountain

The Organ Smugglers: The mobs will now properly reset if players die during the ambush.

Game Director Joel Bylos has provided a bit of a sneak preview to MMORPG.com on the upcoming Issue #8 update for The Secret World.

Called the Venetian Agenda and having a (surprise) focus on Venice and the Council of Venice, it sounds an interesting storyline that’s providing a bridge to Tokyo in Issue #9, with Bylos hinting that the Dragon faction may be getting quite a bit of love in that update.

Additionally, Scenarios and a new augment system will be making their debut. The ability to customise scenarios sounds like a winner to a more casual player like me – will be interesting to see what it has to offer.

Issue #7 content update for The Secret World is now available, so we’ve taken the opportunity to provide the full patch notes for it and the ‘Anniversary’ patch together. If you haven’t logged into TSW for a little while, have a read through on what’s now on offer:

UPDATE ISSUE #7: A DREAM TO KILL – JULY 9TH

NEW!

A brand new story line in Transylvania has you investigating the presence of the werewolves in the area. This will lead you to take a closer look at the Orochi activities in the region, leading down a trail of dark deeds and deception! The brand new story line is not only full of plenty of new action filled missions, but also continues The Secret World’s main story line in Transylvania, and reveals significant details and important individuals crucial to the future of Gaia herself!

New Auxiliary weapon: the flamethrower! Get the parts needed from Vampire Hunter in the Besieged Farmlands and be on the lookout for a way to infuse the weapon with Anima so it can achieve its full power.

The Envoy of Ca’ d’Oro in The Shadowy Forest has new daily missions.

MISSIONS

The Savage Coast: Theme Park Tycoon – Zombies will now take damage from the Octotron.

PVP

An issue with queueing and entering Fusang has been resolved.

UPDATE ‘1.7 ANNIVERSARY’ – JULY 3RD

GENERAL

Illuminati and Down By Law gasmasks will now work as the CDC Respirator does in the Fog.

The Panopticon title has been restored.

Fixed an issue that caused Hippie Shades, gold with rose tint to not display with some uniforms.

COMBAT

GUI

Selecting decks in the ability wheel will highlight the correct abilities.

Fixed an issue where the close button on the skill window was not working.

UPDATE ‘1.7 FEATURES’ HOTFIX – JUNE 28TH

GENERAL

The Forgotten Ashes item can now be purchased again

Time Tomb Raider title can now be purchased again

Fixed a clipping issue with Strapless blouse and long gloves

Large frame glasses, black have been renamed to Large frame glasses, brown to match their actual color

COMBAT

Fatal Flourish will now trigger properly when using non-targeted AoE abilities

Fixed an issue that caused some attacks to not build and/or consume Elemental Force

Elemental Force and Fatal Flourish will no longer be gained when not hitting a target

Signet of Opportunism will no longer hit for more damage than it should

Using quantum abilities no longer causes item shortcuts to disappear

MISSIONS

New York

Questions and Answers – The door used to exit to New York can be used again

Kingsmouth

Dirty Laundry – The phone can once again be used

The Blue Mountain

Dawning of an Endless Night – Players can now enter the Blue Ridge Mine

The Scorched Desert

Tomb Raiders – The fifth tomb can once again be used

A Flight of Locusts – The keycards can once again be used

Headhunter – Players can now interact with Karim el Touni

Tainted Dreams – Players can now close the nightmare rift

From Oxford, With Love – Players can now retrieve the first artifact

City of the Sun God

They Were Beautiful Once – The digging machines can once again be used

The Besieged Farmlands

A Body of Work – Weapon cache can once again be used

Bearing Gifts – The note can now be inspected

Spy vs. Spy – Players can now interact with Zaha

The Shadowy Forest

Red Hand Down – The skeleton can once again be used

WORLD DESIGN

Blue Mountain – Fixed an issue where players could get stuck behind some crates

The Shadowy Forest – Moved a dead Orochi body so it is no longer floating

The Shadowy Forest – Moved a C4 explosive so it is no longer floating

The Shadowy Forest – Fixed an issue where an Orochi Computer was using an Illuminati symbol

UPDATE ‘1.7 FEATURES’ – JUNE 26TH

GENERAL

An issue causing players’ screens to remain black after finishing cinematics has been resolved.

You should no longer lose sprint when entering combat.

Item Shop Consumables can no longer be used before your character reaches Kingsmouth.

Character legs will no longer become invisible when wearing the Denim capri pants with Ankle boot heels.

Hands no longer disappear when wearing the Delta Force – Right arm wrap with long sleeves.

Quickened Anima should now be purchaseable at the correct faction ranks.

A few Transylvania monsters that were erroneously dropping New England Sequins will now drop Transylvania Sequins.

Faction Marks will no longer generate impact particles on their targets.

Vendors no longer trick you into thinking the veteran items are sellable.

Clarified the descriptions of the Quickened Animas and the Sprinting buffs.

You can no longer waste Astral Fuse or Criterion Upgrade on an upgrade where they are not needed.

The ’30 missions completed’ notification is now account wide, and will only appear once after one character completes 30 missions.

Added a heal over time effect to all practice Demons.

The Sherlock achievement now gets awarded correctly.

We have lowered prices for consumables from the pvp vendors.

Fixed an issue with the War Helmet and certain hairstyles.

Added a new dressing room slot for head accessories.

Disabled group invites when in the barber chair or plastic surgery table.

Send Report button should now be visible even when the mission tracker is disabled.

The playfield sequin vendors have received a new item of commerce.

Item Shop items now give onscreen feedback for why they are unusable before reaching Kingsmouth.

Look for a banner and sign displaying the names of the Music Contest winners in London!

Added ‘Powered by Dreamworld Technology’ logo to the login screen.

Added some text to the top of the bug report window to help players better understand the difference between bug reports and /petitions.

COMBAT

Beatdown will no longer apply its knockback effect to subsequent attacks.

Paradigm Shift has been redesigned. It now provides a 30% chance to gain the Minor Hit Chance effect whenever you apply the Weakened state. The reason for this change is to differentiate it from Call Your Shots.

Fatal Flourish has been redesigned. It now builds 1 Fatal Flourish counter every time you apply the Afflicted state. When the count reaches 8 the next attack will penetrate and reset the count. The reason for this change is to make it different than the Dark Potency passive.

Exploitation has been updated to provide a 33% chance to cleanse 1 effect from yourself whenever you hit a Hindered target. The reason for this change is to make it different than the Perjury passive.

Increased the damage dealt by the Sudden Return passive ability.

Contortionist will now remove only Hinder and Impair effects.

Fixed an issue which caused the stun component of Art of War to trigger even when the damage was evaded or glanced.

Defensive Turret will now apply its effect more reliably.

Passives which trigger when applying Hinder effects will no longer trigger if the target is immune to Hinder effects.

Deadly Aim’s duration will now be refreshed when reapplied.

Fixed a tooltip error with the Probability buff.

Fixed an issue where Bushwhack’s Obstruction effect did not last as long as it should.

The Charge effect when attached to a whip and triggered with Whip it Good will now hit reliably.

Win Win will now remove two stacks of the cleanseable dungeon debuffs.

Pistol Love will now remove three stacks of the cleanseable dungeon debuffs.

Cleansing Drone will now remove two stacks of the cleanseable dungeon debuffs if the target is Hindered when the drone is summoned.

Cry Havoc’s damaging ground area will now trigger correctly on any impaired targets.

Cry Havoc’s damaging ground area will now display properly in the combat log.

Updated the description of Cannonball to clarify which abilities it affects.

Cannonball will now trigger from Death from Above and Flicker.

Lock, Stock & Barrel will now consume and trigger properly when using Shotgun Turret and Defensive Turret.

Fixed a tooltip issue with Hog Wild.

Burst of Energy now works with Call for Eris.

Fixed an issue with the HoT effect of the quantum ability Charge.

Tooltips for barrier effects will now show the current value left on the barrier instead of showing the full value.

Increased the selection radius of Chain attacks so they work more reliably at selecting their maximum number of targets.

Updated the tooltip for Increased Dosage to show the healing range for 1-5 resources.

Increased the cooldown of Tear Gas to 4 seconds to match other ranged resource consuming abilities.

Reduced the damage of the extra hit to Safety Off caused by Extra Bullet.

Fixed a problem with Flight of Daggers.

Start & Finish should now benefit properly from all passive abilities.

Clarified Live Wire’s tooltip to indicate that it triggers off the 5th critical hit.

Updated description of Burst of Energy to specify that it only works with damaging abilities.

Corrected damage numbers in the tooltip for Bone Breaker.

Pressure Point and Elemental Force can no longer be removed via right click.

Soft Target should now apply ranged resources to your primary target when triggered.

The recharge modification from Rocket Science will now apply to Death from Above even if the jump kills you.

Fixed an issue where some HoT abilities were treated as active heals.

Reduced the total critical hit and penetrating hit chance on all abilities which hit multiple times per second. This is not a total normalization, but reduces their chances to be more in line with single hit abilities.

Momentum buff from the Hammer skill can no longer be canceled.

Fixed a tooltip error in the Striker ability.

Imprint will now trigger even if an attack is queued after Whip It Good.

Fixed an issue that caused Big Forty Five to consume an extra Pistol resource.

Made adjustments to the way Elemental Force and Fatal Flourish build counters to make them more reliable.

Channeling abilities can now be properly queued with themselves.

Fixed an issue with Strange Attractor which could cause it to not deal damage to targets who are immune to Impairs.

Anaesthesia will no longer apply 2 stacks of Rising Vigor.

Fixed the combat log to show proper leech percentages.

DUNGEONS

Slaughterhouse – The Tesla Coil AoE now deals damage properly.

Hell Eternal – Fixed an issue with performance during the Prime Maker fight.

The Polaris – If everyone is not ready to leave with the helicopter, a short grace period is now activated to allow them to catch up.

Resolved an issue that could in rare cases cause loot not to drop from the New York Raid or make the lockout apply to everyone in the playfield.

Fixed players being bound to their nightmare instances even when trying to travel to normal dungeons.

The Facility – Fixed an issue with unkillable resurrecting monsters around the pit in The Facility.

ITEMS

The Time Accelerator tooltip now includes a line in its description stating “Only usable by subscribers and Grand Masters.”

Increased the Physical Protection granted by Kickbacks and Stimulants.

Energy Drink – Barrier will now always apply to yourself when used.

Deleting items from inside the crafting window has been disabled to prevent an issue where future recipes failed because of this.

Signets

Fixed description text on many different Signets.

Signet of Abuse damage bonus has been slightly increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Abuse should trigger more reliably when multiple users with the Signet attack the same target.

Signet of Extrication healing has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Echoes will no longer trigger passive effects.

Signet of Order block chance increase has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Resilience will now correctly state that it increases physical and magical protection and not block rating. This is a tooltip fix, the signet was always increasing physical and magical protection.

Signet of Resilience buff counters will now fall off one at a time instead of all at once.

Signet of Sadism damage has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Sadism now specifies that it deals magical damage.

Signet of Sadism should trigger more reliably when multiple users with the Signet attack the same target.

Signet of Salvation effect will now display with the proper icon.

Signet of Opportunism damage has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Opportunism now specifies that it deals magical damage.

Signet of Opportunism should trigger more reliably when multiple users with the Signet attack the same target.

Signet of Breaching now has a 7 second cooldown upon applying its effect.

Signet of Breaching penetration damage increase value has been reduced at all rarity levels.

Signet of Breaching will now apply 100% of the time on any penetrating hit, instead of a 33% chance to apply.

Signet of Castigation cooldown reduced at all rarity levels. Note there was a tooltip error which stated the cooldown was 10 seconds when it was 15 across all rarity levels.

Signet of Castigation will now provide a small damage increase while the effect is active.

Signet of Discipline will now grant more defense rating at all rarity levels.

Signet of Discipline cooldown has been reduced at all rarity levels.

Signet of Reinforcement physical and magical protection gained has been reduced at all rarity levels.

Signet of Reinforcement buff counters will now fall off one at a time instead of all at once.

Signet of Reinforcement can now trigger when you evade an attack.

Signet of Aggression cooldown has been reduced at all rarity levels.

Signet of Aggression should trigger more reliably when multiple users with the Signet attack the same target.

Signet of Temperance healing has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Temperance effect now has an 8 second cooldown upon applying its effect to match its duration and ensure reapplication does not cause any healing ticks to be missed.

Signet of Temperance should trigger more reliably when multiple users with the Signet heal the same target.

Signet of Benediction barrier value has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Benediction should trigger more reliably when multiple users with the Signet heal the same target.

Signet of Obedience damage bonus has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Obedience buff counters will now fall off one at a time instead of all at once.

Signet of Obedience should trigger more reliably when multiple users with the Signet attack the same target.

Signet of Cruel Delight healing has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Cruel Delight should trigger more reliably when multiple users with the Signet attack the same target.

Signet of Interdiction healing has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Interdiction should trigger more reliably when multiple users with the Signet attack the same target.

Signet of Fury damage bonus has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Corruption affliction damage bonus has been increased at all rarity levels.

Signet of Laceration critical damage bonus has been increased at all rarity levels.

Debuffs from lesser powered Signets of Breaching will no longer overwrite more powerful ones.

Added an icon to the Signet of Fury effect.

Fixed an issue with the Signet of Fortification which could cause it to make players take more damage than expected.

CRAFTING

Fixed an issue that prevented players from crafting multiple items using stacks of materials.

GUI

Loot type and threshold changes now appear in the onscreen messages correctly.

Fixed an issue where placeholder text appeared when disassembling items with a full inventory.

Fixed an error message seen when attempting to use the Flashbang Grenade in restricted areas.

“Enable Mouse Highlighting” – changed the option and tooltip text to make this functionality clearer.

Inspection GUI should now still be able to be opened after being closed with Shift+Esc.

Send Report button will now reappear after reviving if a player is killed while reading the mission reward window.

The SP icon should no longer disappear when opening the Achievement window.

The Achievement icon should now disappear when the Achievement window is opened.

The LFG list will now update more often.

Fixed a case where certain cells in the outer wheel could not be selected.

Achievements that give rewards now list those rewards on the achievements menu.

A new Cabal Log has been added to the Cabal interface. This tab will allow players to see a record of basic cabal activity.

Fixed an issue that caused shortcut bar items to disappear when using some quantum brace abilities.

Removed the ability to zoom in on the Skill Wheel.

Auxiliary weapon abilities and ability slots are now hidden until auxiliary weapons are unlocked.

MISSIONS

Kingsmouth

The Last Strand – Poison will not affect players in anima form anymore.

Dawning of an Endless Night – Cassandra no longer appears at the entrance to the Maintenance tunnels.

Scrapyard Defence – All members of the Draug raiding party will now reach the barricades.

An interesting update from The Secret World’s Game Director Joel Bylos, concentrating on the upcoming content update, Issue #7.

Before he gets to that though, he’s flagged we’re in for some fun to coincide with the first anniversary of TSW’s launch:

From July 3rd, the Guardians of Gaia will be awakening in areas all across the game. These massive creatures, formed of the primal elements, are the second line of defense for the planet against the strange infection known only as the Filth.

Such powerful creatures can only be brought down by banding together with others and lucky players will be able to capture a portion of their essence – a earn a Guardian of their very own.

Throughout the event, we will be offering a 30% discount across almost everything in the store and every day we will provide a different bonus to anybody who logs in – Double Experience, Double Ability Points and Double Skill Points.

We’ll be offering free gifts to all of our players and a little something extra for our members and Grandmasters.

Now onto Issue #7, A Dream To Kill. All that’s being said is that it obviously continues the main storyline, with Tokyo the focus. Beyond that, you’ll have to satisfy yourself with a short but spooky little teaser vid:

Looking forward again, the team is hard at work on the content of Issue #8, which includes the very exciting new Scenario and Augment systems which will allow us to extend our in-game in new ways. In addition the writers are hard at work on the new characters in Tokyo and we will be recording VO and motion capture for those characters right after a well-earned summer vacation.

So there you have it – lots to look forward to. If only I could free up some time to get beyond the Savage Coast……

UPDATE 1.6.2 – APRIL 15TH

NEW!

A new Lair encounter has been added! Some intrepid Secret Worlders have found a way to open a portal to the Eidolon of the Outer Dark’s dwelling place! You’ll want to gather 10 of your bravest and send them through to see what they find. Signs are pointing to a strange wreckage around Kingsmouth being the weakest thread between our realities.

GENERAL

Using the Reconstructor won’t show the dialog popup on other players’ clients anymore.

Opening the character sheet will no longer cause a clothing item to be previewed.

Renamed a crate in the Polaris to “Orochi crate”.

Fixed a stuck location in The City Before Us instance.

Fixed the snake’s sound effects during the mission cinematic for Old Gods, New Tricks.

Kingdom counters from Signet of the Kingdom will now have a description when viewed.

When earning multiple tokens would take a character over the token cap, the server previously rejected the entire award. Instead, the character now earns exactly enough tokens to reach the cap.

Signet of Thinis will now build ranged resources on your hostile target, even when using a purely friendly targeted heal.

Removed Mayan K’in from the wallet GUI.

Resolved an issue that would leave players with a black screen after repeatedly using the Hellevator in Hell Eternal.

Fixed an issue with hat items being removed when equipping certain uniforms.

The Envoy of Ca’ d’Oro now sells another item.

Fixed the cause of a server crash.

Fixed several exploits in PvP, Lairs and Dungeons.

COMBAT

Reduced the cast time of Win-Win to 0.5 seconds (was 1 second).

Increased the radius of Win-Win to 15 meters (was 5 meters).

Increased the max number of targets affected by Win-Win to 5 (was 3).

MISSIONS

Kingsmouth

Floater – Mission will now complete when the drone reaches the end of the escort even if player is still on “Defend the drone” goal.

The Scorched Desert

The Last Train to Cairo mission icon will now show below Mean Streets’ mission icon.

The Last Train to Cairo: You can now re-enter the train segment even if you are disconnected during the intro cutscene.

Added louder sound effects while outside of the train in The Last Train to Cairo mission instance.

Players should no longer be prevented from reentering Sol Glorificus 329AD if they camp during certain phases of ‘A Time to Every Purpose’ tier two.

The City Before Us – Door to Old al-Meryah tunnels will take player to the tunnels instead of Thinis if player is on goal to “Recover the ark”.

Burying the Ark in ‘The City Before Us’ now provides team credit.

The Last Train to Cairo – Fixed an issue where your weapon was visually missing after the first boss cutscene on the train.

King of the Hill – Mummies no longer get stuck in terrain.

City of the Sun God

The Binding – The Hollow spear will be removed from player’s inventory when pausing the mission, and the papyrus, hollow shaft, and sharp point will be removed from player’s inventory when picking up the hollow spear again if they already exist.

PVP

Fixed an issue where the minigame score was not properly updated when joining a minigame late.